Role: Mobile production and service bay.
Attack: 40
Speed: 75
Hit Points: 80,000
Cost: 2800 RU
Production Slots: 3
Module Slots: 2
Sensors Slots: 1
Armament: 4 x Hull Defense Guns (gimbal mount)

Upgrades:
Lvl 1 Carrier Hull: 1500 RU
Lvl 1 Carrier Engines: 500 RU
Imp. Manufacturing: 3000 RU

The Hiigaran Carrier is perhaps the most versatile ship in the Fleet. Properly outfitted, it can build and repair Fighters, Corvettes, Frigates, and Resource class ships. The Carrier can store 10 strike craft squadrons, and is very effective as a mobile resource drop-off point. It features two ability subsystem slots that can be used for whatever purposes Fleet Command sees fit.

"The Hiigarans' technology has advanced significantly over the years, and they're now able to construct capital ships and strike craft in other ships. These are the carriers and a new unit, the shipyard." - Dan Irish, Executive Producer

"On each ship that can build vessels, there will be slots for subsystems now. These are broken down into three classes: production subsystems that build ships, innate subsystems such as resourcing and engines, and ability subsystems that take care of cloaking and extra sensors. While the Mothership will be able to build everything, carriers and shipyards will have to choose which systems they bring to the table. You can't build everything. Perhaps even more important is that these individual subsystems can be destroyed. It won't be easy, but they take a while to rebuild and are worth a thought when it comes to your mid-battle target decisions. When all is done, you'll be able to both right click on the actual systems themselves or right click and hold for a list of subsystems that you can choose from." - Dan Adams, IGN PC

"When the player starts a game, all of these slots will be empty, so if a player wants to build fighters, he or she will have to build a fighter subsystem. But building isn't the only thing you can do with subsystems. So if you wanted a cloak detecting sensor you can build that, but again, you have a limited number of slots so you have to be careful what you choose." - Josh Mosquiera, Lead Designer

"The introduction of subsystems adds new and interesting tactical depth to Homeworld 2's research system. Players will be able to build key modules to customize their larger ships. Some sample subsystems include fighter production bays, fire control towers, and cloaking generators. Of course, players can target these subsystems, allowing them to perform surgical strikes on their enemy's fleet. If your opponent keeps building assault corvettes, take out his or her corvette facilities to give your bombers free rein." - Josh Mosquiera, Lead Designer

In the new shots from or since E3, the Carrier seems to have gone through substantial changes since previous shots. The hardpoints for subsystems (the gray areas) seem more clearly delineated, the forward section appears much wider, and the bridge section has changed dramatically; the circular structure is gone, and the bridge superstructure is now larger and looks more like that of the battlecruiser. The RN E3 video interview also shows that there is now a large frigate-sized docking bay on the port side. The subsystems themselves now have detailed geometry that makes them identifiable by sight.

In this shot, you can see the Carrier's point-defense guns firing.

The blue circle in this shot is reportedly placeholder art for a "rally point", the point at which fighters emerging from the carrier fly to. This element was apparently dropped; it hasn't been seen since.

Earlier shots of the Carrier sported some preliminary placeholder versions of subsystems (the boxy white and yellow bits topside). Apparently, subsystems will have actual geometry that appears on the model of the Carrier (and other ships such as the Mothership and Shipyard that can build subsystems).

In an earlier incarnation, the Carrier was much slimmer, and with a large circular structure near the smaller superstructure. On the concept art the ship is named "HSN Dreadnought", for what that's worth. I am told that the large starboard boom is not in the final design (not even as an upgrade).